Poor Older Adults With Medicaid Insurance More Likely to Die After Leaving Hospital

A study presented at the 2018 American Thoracic Society International Conference found senior Medicaid beneficiaries are less likely to survive in a nursing community following a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) than those covered by Medicare and commercial insurance, reports News-Medical . "This was true even after taking into account differences in pre-existing health conditions and the severity of critical illness," says Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons' Yoland Philpotts. The team analyzed the post-release mortality of New Yorkers age 65 and older who had their first hospitalization in intensive care, and survived while there. They examined 339,261 New York State cases between 2010 and 2014, and estimated that 20 percent of those who survived while in the ICU died within 12 months of release. The researchers determined survivors of critical illness with Medicaid who are released from the hospital to a nursing community have a 15 percent higher risk of death versus those with commercial insurance. "The implications of our findings are important: to improve the long-term survival and quality-of-life of critical illness survivors, we may have to improve care not only within the hospital and ICU, but also after hospital release." Philpotts says.